1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electrical plugs used in household and/or in industrial applications. More particularly, it relates to an electrical plug having a trigger activated ejection system to separate the male plug from the female plug socket.
2. Prior Art
All over the world, electrical connections between apparatus which are powered by electrical current and power grid communicating electrical power from the electrical power suppliers, are being made by means of electrical plugs. In many cases, the disconnection between a male and a female electrical plug is not so easy due to a variety of different reasons. Sometimes the wall contacts can come loose when pulling too hard on the male plug. In other cases, people pull directly on the cable attached to the plug and by consequence the plug, the cable or the wall contact can be damaged. Damaged electrical connections, especially when dealing with the 110 volt or 220 volt supply on a conventional power grid, can be the origin of dangerous situations to anyone coming in contact with them since the connections are not properly electrically insulated anymore. In the case of a conventional wall socket that receives a plug from a supply wire, when it comes loose it is in most cases very difficult to fit it perfectly back into its housing.
Additional problems are encountered by disabled people, older people and children who lack the muscular strength to disconnect the frictional engagement of the male plug engaged with the female socket and may therefor embark on an unsafe way of electrical disconnection of plugs using other manner of disengagement.
In most industrialized countries there are strict rules and building code requirements for the manufacture and sale of electrical plugs which require a tight frictional engagement between the plug and socket in an insulated cooperative engagement. While the connection and disconnection between a male and a female plugs which are properly manufactured and used should go smoothly, in many buildings there are always one or more plugs that presents a problem. Generally, the problem will lie in the disconnection of the male and female plug that have been engaged. Disengagement is usually harder to accomplish than engagement. This is because engagement allows the user to simply grip the male plug and lean their body weight into it as it lines up with the female sockets which register with the protruding male pins. However, once so engaged, the pins are frictionally held in place inside of the sockets and the user must grip the plug and use only body strength to pull the plug and socket apart without the benefit of using body weight and leverage.
Currently, there are no solutions to resolve that problem properly. Some manufacturers added a rotating system into the male plug to disconnect their engagement with the socket but this system still needs a lot of muscular strength on the part of the user. Other ideas involved a pushing system incorporated into the male plug but they twist the plug and the system was not electrically separated from the rest of the plug.
As such, there exists a need for an easily operated and inexpensively manufactured mechanical device that will facilitate the separation of engaged plugs and sockets. Such a device should provide a mechanical advantage to aid in the separation of the plug and socket and be useable by children and the elderly. Such a device should be easy to mechanically operate and should function in such a manner as to be easily incorporated into conventional socket and plug receptacle already in use and approved for such use.
The device herein described and disclosed provides a solution to the problem of disengagement of engaged plugs and sockets such as conventional A.C. household and industrial plugs and sockets, by adding an ejecting system that can be integrated into any electrical plug and socket style system, and is especially applicable however to the conventional AC household and industrial systems using plugs that engage with wall mounted or chord mounted female sockets. In the case of a conventional wall socket of the female style construction using a male plug, the addition of a trigger activated ejection pin into the male plug allows the user to simply squeeze the trigger to laterally translate the ejection pin into the socket and separate the plug and socket. In the case of chords having male and female terminators at their ends, the trigger activated ejection pin could be located in either the male or female receptacle and would be activated in the same manner. Of course placement in the male plug allows the plug to be engaged with either a wall socket or a socket on a chord and still provide the separation ability of the ejection pin.
An object of this invention is to provide for an easily operated device that will allow the user an aid in the separation of engaged plugs and socket receptacle.
Another object of this invention is to provide such a device that operates in a fashion to allow it to be encompassed into conventional sockets and plugs now approved for use in countries throughout the world without requiring reconfiguration of those plugs and sockets.
A further object of this invention is the provision of a device for separation of engaged plugs and sockets that may be interfaced in-between already installed sockets and plugs used therein.
Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon.